Wild Flowers #wildflowers #springflowers #ukspring

There is a park very near our house that has these wild flowers growing every year. Its a large park mostly used by dog walkers, runners and an athletics club that backs onto the grounds and the flowers are high up near the road and away from where you might normally walk. I have seen them many times as i must drive past this park at least 8 times a week taking the kids to and from different activities. I always think that i must stop and take a moment to take them in but never do and i know that before too long their short season will have gone and there will be nothing left but the summer grasses. Driving past i always find myself thinking that i dont have time, or ill do it another time. The week before my half marathon I went for a long run which routed me back past this park. I was near home and time was looking good and i noticed the flowers again. I could have kept going and clocked a good fast time for my last long run. But i didn’t. I chose to go into the park and walk up to the flowers and sit for a while and take some pics with my phone. I love wild flowers, they remind me a lot of where i grew up where i spent hours and hours playing in fields that we were free to roam in. Makes me sad really that my own kids dont have that sort of freedom.

The fields were always full of these sort of blooms. They have that lovely free feeling about them. Not hindered to grow in manicured beds but just where the wind has blown them. They smell pretty good to. 🙂

One of those days when you make a decision that blesses your soul a lot more than you think.

 

 

 

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The start of an adventure. Travelling down under part 1.

In the half term this past week I packed up my suitcase and headed south…like really really south, almost as far south as you can get. I went to Sydney in the state of New South Wales, in Australia. I have never been before, all i knew of sydney was a few of those iconic images that we have all seen and that things are super pricey there. But not much else. I boarded a plane for my first leg of the trip after bidding farewell to my OH and kids. A lone traveller. Its been a long time since i could write that in reference to myself. But so i was, journeying around the world for the very first chapter of our exciting adventure as a family.

Im not a massive flying fan, i dont like turbulence, it freaks me out when the plane wobbles about and i remember that im not on a train and actually hanging in the air. I had read somewhere that sitting near the wing means that the turbulence is less. Which may well be true but the other thing about sitting near the wings, you are directly above the landing gear and when they pull up and go down it makes a large thump under your seat and every hollywood disaster flying movie when the landing gear doesnt quite go down properly and the plane somersaults when it hits the tarmac, goes through your mind. (or is that just me?)

May have to review my ‘where to sit’ policy next time round.

Anyway I flew to Abu Dhabi in the UAE. 7 hours of flying, with seemingly efficient but slightly grumpy stewardess and stuck next to two fellow single travellers who sat down, did their seat belts up and promptly went to sleep. Not great for a window seat traveller who needs to move their legs and visit the ladies room a lot. The day before i flew i ran a half marathon and was a little worried my legs would seize up. So instead of asking them both to move 500 times during the flight I, instead, jigged my legs around in my seat. They must have thought i was a complete neurotic!

Arriving in UAE we had to catch a bus to the terminal and im not kidding when we stepped out of the plane at maybe 6pm at night the heat that greeted me was incredible. 38 degrees of hot, hot air. I had no idea it was going to be so hot, may have altered my wardrobe choices. But we were whisked onto a bus and into an air conditioned terminal and beckoned towards the transit desks. Top tip! Get your boarding passes from your first check in, you dont need to queue at slow moving transit desks and you can just make your way to your next flight’s gate. (whilst obviously sending a quick prayer to the Transit baggage God that your suitcase is going to follow you onto the right plane!)

I had to wait a little while before the flight was boarding and i thought i would visit the ladies, get a drink etc etc. I used an old 10 Euro note in the shop, you can pretty much use any currency but their exchange rates are generally pants. But I was so hot i think i would have paid 10 Euros for a cold drink!! The one particularly unpleasant thing about the airport was the smoking rooms. Which were little 7ft perspex boxes where anyone who wishes to smoke goes to stand. They were pretty full and the smoke spilling out into the walkways was really nasty. They were next to the airport prayer rooms which had a selection of shoes discarded by the front door. Such an interesting juxtaposition. Praying for purity of your souls next door to the little boxes full of folks frantically satisfying their addictions to little cancer sticks.  bluuergh.

Boarding the next plane the two young guys who sat next to me introduced themselves as ‘in a band’ and ‘playing at the Royal Opera house.

Reeeaally? i say, in a not too discreet manner…this is the moment i thought to myself where i sit next to singer of some super famous band for 12 hours, we chat and become friends forever and he leaves the plane in Aus giving me his personal phone number and promise for as many seats as i need at his next gig. 😉

Turns out they were in fact playing in an orchestra of sorts and it was part of a wider festival at the opera house. pffffttt..not popstars then, although i guess it would be unlikely that they would be back in the cheap seats! They were both pretty focused on how much sleep they might get on the plane and after the doors were shut they set off to see if they could find any spare spaces. Incredibly they both found spaces that were better than sharing with me (no offence taken!) and i got left with three seats to myself. So I did manage to sleep.

Meals are interesting on a long haul. They seem to want to force your body from a nutritional point of view to accept your new time zone and getting towards sydney the cabin crew started serving meals. Expecting a kind of breakfasty, croissant type thing but was offered a casserole. hmmm…not for breakfast thanks When I initially booked i thought i would plump for the vegetarian option. Im not a massive fan of airplane food, it all seems to taste plastic no matter what it is and i thought that a veggie option might spare me the rubbery chicken casserole. Which it did, to be fair, but it would seem that the folks at Etihad airways opt for when it comes to the veggie option is essentially a few different ways to present a bean casserole. So after the second helping of a bean based plate of food I stuck to the little fruit bowl and a few bread rolls. I have to say that Virgin (who took the first leg of my ride back home) were much more imaginative!!

Arriving in Sydney in late evening I was trying to work out the temperature and have a sneaky peek before we got to boarder control but alas it is autumn/winter time there and so the sun goes down pretty early in the evening. I was pretty fortunate to be near the front of the plane so i got off early and managed to get into the queue for passports. Which was a good thing as there were only two folks on the desks.

I had been scared by a women i had got chatting to in Abu Dhabi. When I had mentioned to her that I was bringing in some chocolate for british friends she gave me a serious warning about not declaring it and what might happen if i got caught. So i declared it and on arriving into customs got sent to a little carosel with my suitcase. The lady took my customs form off me and looked at what i had checked.

“what is it that you have with you?’

me: “just some chocolate for some friends, as gifts…you know…’cos they miss it…its not the same…so they tell me…just cadbury…oh and some galaxy, i think thats made my nestle, or it is mars, im not sure, its all sealed and i packed it….’

I mumbled on and on. She eventually cut me off with:

‘is that it? no fruit? no vegetables?’

Me: thinking why would i be bringing vegetables? ‘er..no…just chocolate’

She just waved me on to the exit lane and said ‘have a good stay’

Me and my chocolate stash had made it down under.

Let the adventure begin!!

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Its a good summer for a party #princegeorge

The warmer months are on their way and its looking like its going to be a very royal summer!

Its soon the Queen’s birthday and there will be the traditional trooping of the colour, fly past and gun salutes at Hyde Park. London City putting on its best bib and tucker.

Then its off to the races and grab at seat if you have deep pockets and place your bets at Newmarket and enjoy at fabulous day out for the family.

The big event of the summer for the royals? Can you believe it was nearly a year ago we all waited for the announcement of the year? Prince George himself was born summer 2013 and has had a fabulous first year. Travelling to the other side of the world and being one of the most photographed baby in the world. Who know’s maybe his mum and dad will decide to book a little cake smash birthday shoot to commemorate his birthday. Maybe I could offer my services!

To commemorate Prince George’s first birthday the folks over at 888ladies are running a big jackpot game of online bingo in his honour. You can follow the link to see if you want to take a punt.

Good luck and lets all have a fabulous summer!

🙂

 

this is a partnered post

 

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Go Ape in Grizedale Forest #countrykids #goape #grizedale

During the easter break, which seems like a while ago now, we got offered an opportunity to go and try out the brand new high ropes Tree tops Junior at GoApe in the beautiful Grizedale Forest in the stunning Lake District. We were really keen to have a go as my son has been asking so many times to try out GoApe and up until now he was below the height and age limit for the adult courses. The extra bonus here was that all the little ones could go on as well. If they were under 6 they had to be accompanied by an adult and my OH was pretty keen to volunteer! 🙂

They all got kitted out with their harnesses and had a pretty in depth demo on how to do it all. One great thing that we noticed, which put our worrying minds as rest, was that they were always attached to the safety line. I have been to some high ropes courses where the kids have to clip on and clip off at each different activity in the trees. Which if you are a 5 year old might be something you forget to do! I thought that was such a well thought through addition, especially for the little ones so that they can be included safely.

There are two levels of course and they kids have about 90 minutes to have a go at as much or as little as they want. Our bigger kids went for  both levels and our youngest adventurer went for just the first level with her Daddy. The kids had a great time and at no time did i have any concern for their safety.

After we handed the harnesses back and picked up the kids certificates for completing the course we headed out for a little walk around the stunning Grizedale Forest and its tribute to the Gruffalo. With wind up trees that played songs and little clues and tips on nature and what is in the Forest.

I really love the Lake District. It is a place we have lived relatively close for such a long time and not visited nearly enough! It is a true gem of a place. We really love it there.

 

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Moving water #oneweek #mamarrazi

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Fast moving water is always great to photograph, especially when it is bouncing off something else.

It can be in a pond or even just off the grass as your wee ones throw water about in the garden. To capture fast moving anything you want to consider your shutter speed.

The speed your shutter can fire at is dependent on the camera you have. Unlike aperture which is all about your lens. Shutter speed is an ability within your camera body itself. I have written other posts on shutter speed before which you can go ahead and read if you would like. But this isnt so much a tutorial as just an excuse to share some shots. Water, like fire, is one of those things i could just sit and watch for ages. I also thought i would  share my settings for these images. I think people like that. I have noticed that people like to see the numbers and work out how they might replicate it.

So here we are:

You would need to be working your manual settings and the first two shots were essentially shot at a Shutter Speed of 1/6400. F stop (aperture) of 4.0 and my ISO was 250. So thats 1/6400, f4.0, ISO 250.

These last two I went a little bit faster on the shutter speed to 1/8000, f stop remaining the same but a big change in ISO now up at 1000. Outside on a very bright day using super fast shutter speeds means that either you have to open your aperture wide or crank up the ISO or sensitivity to the light to allow enough light to hit the camera’s sensor. Having a shutter open for one eight thousanth of a second is not going to let a whole lot of light in of itself so it needs a bit more help ! So thats 1/8000, f4.0 ISO 1000.

I have gone on in other posts about the three dimensions of aperture, shutter speed and ISO and those posts are in my mamarrazi bunch of posts should you fancy having a browse. But really I just wanted to share some really cool images of water. Because it really is amazing isnt it! 🙂

 

Included this week in B is for over at Grappling with a box of frogs 🙂 one week

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